Transgender Law Reaffirms San Diego Schools’ Approach, Says Board President

When San Diego students head back to school Monday a few new laws affecting schools with be in place. One of those laws deals with what school facilities are available to transgender students.

When San Diego students head back to school Monday a few new laws affecting schools will be in place. One of those laws deals with what school facilities are available to transgender students.

Students across California will able to use bathrooms and lockers based on the gender they identify as instead of their biological sex starting this week. The same applies to gender-specific teams and other programs.

San Diego Unified Board of Education President Kevin Beiser said San Diego schools were already working to accommodate at least three transgender students this year.

The new law will mean clarifying districtwide policies for issues that have been dealt with on a case-by-case basis until now.

“Students can’t just willy-nilly decide to use one gender’s facilities over the other," he said. "There’s a deliberate process by which counselors, parents, administrators and staff are involved in consultation with the child to make sure that this is the right thing to do.”

A group called Privacy For All Students gathered signatures last year to halt the law’s implementation and put it on this November’s ballot for voter approval. Those signatures are being verified still and could suspend the new rules later this month.

In the real world they won't be able to tailor reality to fit their expectations.

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Well said JM! Quote of the month!

All this over 3 students out of 135,000. Now 3 can use any bathroom they want (until they are 18) and the School Board can go home for the year satisfied they did a good job looking after 3 out of 135,000 students. Their work is done.

But wait!

There is still an injustice. Kids who think they're vampires need a dark bathroom. Vampires have rights too!

Privacy For All Students and people against this bill are very uneducated on transgenderism and the reason it even passed.1. Nearly 1,000,000 people in the US identify as transgender, so it does have an effect.2. MYTH: Transgender people are confused, and they aren’t “real” men or women—they are just crossdressers who plan to sneak into bathrooms for inappropriate reasons and harass other students. 3. In the "real" world, California included, there is discrimination protection for transgender people, and they deserve the same rights as cisgender people.4. Most importantly, why are rights being decided on by strangers who don't care about transgender students? We learned from the civil rights movement that the majority voting on the rights of minority is not fair, so why is this any different?

Instead of holding fast to close-minded, bigoted beliefs, do the LGBT community a favor and educate yourself.

This case isn't simply about providing access to everyone. It is about providing special access to a few.

Does any man have the right to walk into a woman's bathroom (or vice versa)? No. So why do transgendered get this special access? They are akin to gender royalty now as they can use any gender-limited facility they please.

Good point. The opponents of this law, many of which are the same groups who opposed marriage equality, come up with all these horrendous scenarios about how this law will be abused by peeping toms and the like, yet, in practice, these "boogeyman" scenarios are just baseless propaganda and haven't occurred.

It's reminds me of all the horror stories about how heterosexuals would suffer and how straight marriages would be in shambles if gay marriages were allowed.

Now that we have gay marriage, what straight people have suffered? Is heterosexual marriage in shambles? Where are all the sky is falling doomsday scenarios the prop 8 crowd promised? They don't exist. It was all discrimination-rooted hysteria.

It's the same thing here.

These groups want to kill this law before it gets off the ground because they know that once it's been in practice for awhile and none of the horrific scare-tactic scenarios happen, people won't be motivated by the fake propaganda to come out against it.

I think these groups have realized they lost on gay marriage so they have decided target the transgendered folk.

"“Students can’t just willy-nilly decide to use one gender’s facilities over the other," he said. "There’s a deliberate process by which counselors, parents, administrators and staff are involved in consultation with the child to make sure that this is the right thing to do.”

In other words, AP's will be taking time out from supervision, discipline, proctoring tests, and other administrative duties to accommodate a handful of teens.

Missionaccomplished.The job of Counselors, administrators and staff entails to "take time out" to look after the needs of every kid going to school and they do it many times on a case by case basis for any kid going to school regardless of their gender. Your opposition and prejudice is blinding and basically you are suggesting that a transgender kid doesn't deserves the attention like the other kids do and your are just assuming.

In the first, place Shelley Gall, what is the bio-psychological definition of "transgender"? (Pre op, we are dealing here with.) Remember, these students are still minors and subject to their parents or caregivers.

Secondly, classified staff DOES NOT deal with students as you describe. Even counselors today, unlike in the past--the way past--deal more credits and evaluations. And even then, they have such a load that they drop the ball. That is why I said: administrators. (Two to three, depending on enrollment.) From what the article describes, their will be a "process," meaning, time out from regular duties, a meeting with parents, new forms printed from the District office, etc. This is less about personal attention, as you would it, and more about a special accommodation based on idiosyncracy and/or childhood trauma.

Having provided support for several trans kids, teens and adults, I'm very happy that California has added these protections for our trans brothers and sisters.

Native Americans have long recognized, before the Christian conquests, multiple genders and sexual orientations. Not just male, not just female. Some fell into other categories and Native Americans wisely accepted them as they were and integrated them into their tribes for thousands of years.

Hopefully more states will join California in enacting similar legislation.